How to Keep a Promise
by laisqueiroz
Summary: "How long are you gonna stay with me?" "Forever." This is a story of hurt, pain, feelings but this is also a story of adventures and most important of all a creation of a personal universe, build up with LOVE. This is the story of the Doctor in the TARDIS with Rose Tyler just as it should be.
1. Dårlig Ulv Stranden (Bad Wold Bay)

She stared at the empty space on the beach that had a squared mark where before a blue police box was parked. She thought of how, in the blink of an eye, it was gone. Again.

Emptiness filled her heart and her eyes stated to burn by fighting off the tears.

And then someone squeezed her hand.

"Rose." His voice called her, in a low tone. Just the way it did years before, in a dream. She thought of how her own name sounded different and new if said by this voice. Only this voice.

She blinked once, slowly and let go off a breath that she didn't realise she's been holding.

He called her again, his voice even lower.

She took a deep breath and turned to look at him.

His big chocolate brown eyes were looking at her, searching.

"I'll be okay." She said, reassuring him. Rose knew that saying she was okay now was a lie and she didn't want to start _this_ (whatever **_this _**ended up being) by lying. Maybe she wasn't fine now but time heals wound made inside. And that half time lord came with all the knowledge of time from the original one so he should understand the need of _time_.

"Let's go." She said, giving a gentle tug on his hand.

They walked side by side and hand in hand like thousand times before but they both knew this time it was different. It was something _**new**._


	2. The Beginning of a Secret

They found Jackie sat on a stone with her phone on her hands. She was gazing the sea.

"Hey mom, have you phoned dad?" Asked Rose, putting her hands across Jackie's shoulder.

She took a while to answer, looking at the horizon and then she played with the phone in her hand and looked at her daughter.

"Sure I did. Don't want to stay in the bloody middle of nowhere, eh? I'm freezing!"

She hugged herself, shivering.

The Doctor took off his blue suit and put it around Jackie's shoulder. "Here. You can use it. I'm not cold." He said, smiling shyly.

Rose stared at him. His hair (great, great hair) was just like she was used to it. He was still experimenting with back combing. The wind of the beach was making it look either threatening (when it flew backwards) or a lost puppy (when it covered his eyes making it look like he had a fringe and so younger than he actually was).

Chocolate brown eyes found hers. She was unable to look away. How can it be him?

She moved her eyes through him. His t-shirt was flicking, showing how skinny he was. That shirt gave her a bitter taste. She knew that shirt. That purple shirt was once in another chest and yet... The same. Only with bigger ears and almost no hair.

Rose stared at his bare arms and his manly hairy hand and he put it in his trouser's pockets.

She could feel his eyes still on her. Her body gave an involuntary shiver. He looked up.

"Are you cold too?"

She shook her head and he narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth but whatever he was going to say was interrupted by the sound of a horn.

There was a black car with an insignia on his doors marking a T.

"Didn't you say you phoned dad?" Asked Rose, her voice with an hint of annoyance.

"I did! But he's home. Said he would call the Torchwood base here in Norway."

Rose hurried forward and stared to comb down the Doctor's hair. He stared at her, confused.

"Wha- Rose... What are you doing?" He grabbed her hands and held them down.

"I- I don't want them to recognise you."

"It's all right."

"No. It's not. Can't deal with this now." She moved away from him taking off her hands from his grip.

A lady got out of the car. She had an intense red hair and her very pale face was scattered with red dots. She was beautiful.

"Hey Miss Tyler!" Said the girl, with a strong accent.

Rose was a little flushed and the Doctor noticed that actually she was pissed off.

"Hi Anna." She said, not meeting the girl's face, while walking to the car followed by the others.

"Mister Tyler called our base and ordered a ride for you ladies." Anna looked curiously to the Doctor. "Didn't say there was a third fella." She turned to the Doctor and stuck out her hand. "Hello there. I'm Anna Young. Most people just call me Ay."

"I'm... John. John Smith." He answered, talking her hand.

"Shall we, Anna?" Asked Rose, motioning to the car.

The ginger girl smiled at him and opened the doors. Jackie went for the seat in the front and the Doctor and Rose sat on the back, each one facing a window, distant from each other.

"So, I'll take you guys to the base and we'll take a private plane back to London, is that all right, ma'am?"

Rose ignored Anna so Jackie answered "Sure, love."

The ride was silent. At first, Anna tried to make small talk, but soon noticed the mood on the car and turned on the radio, letting pop songs fill the silence.

Rose kept fighting the feelings that were making way to the surface. She didn't want to cry. Not there.

The car stopped.

"Here we are. Torchwood base: Norway." She got out of the car. Other torchwood agents opened the doors for them to exit.

"Your team is waiting for you in London, ma'am." Said Anna.

Rose gave a small smile. She adored the Team. They were together just for a year, but she cared so much about them.

"Flyet venter på dem." Said a blond, tall agent.

"The plane is already waiting for you, miss Tyler." Translated Anna.

"Hvem er denne mannen med dem, Anna?"

"Ikke vår virksomhet."

The Doctor looked curiously at them. He was annoyed that he didn't hear them speak English. He didn't have the TARDIS to translate anymore. Well... He had a chunk of it but it still need to grow.

But he was still the man he was before. He _knew_ thousands and thousand of idioms.

The agent was asking who he was. Anna said he wasn't their business. The guy lowered his eyes, respecting Anna, but still looked concerned.

"Ikke la dem se det."

"De vil ikke."

The agent made a movement with his head and went away.

The Doctor followed him with his eyes. He told Anna to "don't let them see it". She said "they won't"... But see what?

"Please, follow me." Said the girl, with a smile.

They did until they found a small black plane waiting.

Jackie got immediately inside and found a comfy sofa and crashed on it. Rose felt the impulse to follow. She was starting to feel tired and her emotions were overwhelming her. But she hated those private planes. They weren't bigger on the inside nor had the outside in a welcome shade of blue.

She sat down on another sofa and the Doctor sat next to her. He looked uneasy, like he hated the plane even more.

But Rose knew. She knew something happened on a plane. She had tried to communicate with him when he was on one, a while ago but he didn't notice, clearly had bigger issues.

She took his hand. He looked at her, surprised. His hand was used to hers, but he knew that it took a while with the whole acceptation part.

She felt the plane moving and then they were no longer touching the ground. The grip on her hand tightened and The Doctor clutched at the sofa.

Rose found this act _way_ too human. The Doctor... The original one... Would try everything to don't look scared even if he was terrified. Maybe this was just one of the new things she was going to need to get used about this new Doctor.

She decided to stark talking with him to calm him down.

"Doctor... What are you thinking?"

"About a monster that copies you." He was starting to sweat even if it was actually very cold.

"No... About, you know, life."

"Life?" He looked at her, confused.

"Life here."

He made an "oh" and looked away, lost in thought. He stopped fussing but his silence only increased her worry. She squeezed his hand and he looked at her.

"I don't... I don't know. This is all knew to me. I... I don't know where to start." He swallowed hard and met her eyes with his. "I don't even know where to go."

"Now... Don't be daft. You are coming with us. Remember, dad's rich in this world. He lives in a mansion. There's plenty of space for you."

He looked at the window. The sky was going dark. He had more than 900 years of memories and yet he had just born. It was almost too much.

He just seemed so sad that Rose took her hand out of his and started to mess his hair until it looked the normal crazy style.

He smiled shyly to her.

"Tell me a story." She said. "Tell me the story about the plane with copycat monster."

He looked at her, his eyes wide open. She knew he didn't saw her. So he was confused.

"I saw you. In a split second." She stared at the window, remembering her despair when she did manage to access the plane's TV but the Doctor was with his back from it, dealing with more serious issues. "I tried to make contact. A few times. You never saw me. Donna did. But she doesn't know me... She couldn't know it was _me_."

Took a while, but the Doctor finaly started to explain her what happened on that plane. He calmed down, stealing looks at her face while talking. And then he finished.

There was a moment of silence while the Doctor just stared at her. "All the time I was there on that plane... I just wished you were there. I wished... I just wished I could hold your hand."

She held his hand again and smiled, reassuring. "I'm here now."

"Actually... Not just when I was on that plane." he said. "Every second of every time that I wasn't with you I wanted to be."

The Doctor saw when a tear rolled down Rose's cheek and he wiped away. But he kept his hand on her face. Their eyes were locked. They were getting closer...

"Crew, prepare for landing."

They were scared back to their places. Apparently more than two hours had passed.

The plane lowered and touched the ground with a big noise, making the Doctor's grip on the sofa almost rip a piece of it because of how tight it was.

"Welcome to London."

"Welcome home." Said Rose, smiling at the Doctor, who smiled back, but his smile didn't meet his eyes.

They woke Jackie up (who was still tired) and got out of the plane.

"Rose! Rose!" Yelled a tiny and skinny Asian girl.

Cho was the other girl on her torchwood's team beside Rose. There was just another boy. They were a nice trio. Now that the Doctor was there, Rose thought happily of having less responsibility over the two teens. Cho was just seventeen. The other boy was only 16.

Cho was tiny but she was fast as a fox and she came running to hug Rose. The Doctor was acting a little defensive and he bumped into her, pushing her out of the way, and Cho ended up hugging him.

"Oh... Well... Hello." The kid looked up and saw a very confused Doctor.

She took a step back and stared at him. His hair was all over the place, now that Rose messed with it, and he was just wearing a t shirt and blue trousers even if it was a cold night in London.

It took her a while and her mouth fell open.

"It's him. It's him isn't it?" She asked Rose and then looked back at him. "It's you! It's you, right? Right?"

"Who?" Asked the Doctor, totally confused.

"The Doctor!" exclaimed the girl.

"Doctor who?" The Doctor never looked more lost in his life.

The girls started to laugh.

"Don't mind him. He's a bit tired." Said Rose and gave him her tong-between-teeth smile and he just looked stunned for a couple of seconds. Then he realised.

"Oh... Him... I mean... Me. Yeah." He breathed and offered a hand to Cho. "Hello."

She shook his hand happily. "Rose speaks a lot of you. Actually, she just can't stop talking about how..."

"Ooookay." Rose gently pushed the kid out of the Doctor's way and took his hand, leading him to another car. This time, Pete Tyler got out of it and then stopped.

There was a moment of silence.

"_Doctor_?"

_**To be continued.**_


End file.
